Insulin-cell Transplant

SCIENCE AND MEDICINE - SCOPE

January 5, 1992

Transplanting tiny hollow tubes containing insulin-producing cells from rats into diabetic mice cured the disease, raising hopes the technique could be used in humans. By encapsulating the cells in plastic tubes, mice in the study did not require potent immune-suppressing drugs to stop their bodies from rejecting the new cells, according to St. Louis researchers. Other studies have found that transplants of the cells, called pancreatic islet cells or islets of Langerhans, can help people with diabetes, but they required immune-suppressing drugs, which can them prone to serious infections. The goal of islet-cell transplants for diabetes is to get diabetics to produce enough insulin, needed to process and store sugar, and eliminate the need for immune-suppressing drugs, researcher Paul Lacy of the Washington University School of Medicine wrote in the journal Science.